Find and read your meter

To check whether your home is metered look at your bill where you will find a meter serial number in the top right hand side below your customer number. If you don't have a bill to hand or haven't moved in yet, please
contact us.

If you have a meter, you will find it near the edge (boundary) of your property, either in the front garden or the pavement outside. It's usually inside an underground chamber, connected to your water supply pipe at the bottom of the chamber and covered with a lid marked 'water'.

Sometimes we put meters inside properties - under the sink or near the stop tap. If you live in a flat or apartment your water meter and our stop tap might be in a cabinet inside the building or in an underground chamber outside. Your meter should be marked with your flat number.

If you are checking your meter during the winter or when it's wet, don't worry if there is water in the chamber as it just shows the level of groundwater. However, if you see water moving or flowing into the chamber or if water is there when it's dry, there may be a leak.

Read your meter

We recommend that you read your meter regularly because it can help you to keep an eye on your water use and find out if you have a leak which could affect the size of your bill.

Taking a meter reading is simple.

Once you have found your meter chamber, lift the outer lid using a flat-headed screwdriver (internal meters don't have a lid).

If there's a polystyrene cover remove this and pull up the inner meter lid, if there is one, to see the meter face. Replace this cover when you've finished because it helps to protect against frost damage.

Make sure you've found the correct meter by checking that the serial number matches the one shown on your bill. You can now read your meter.

Your meter should look like the one above. The following tips will help you to read the meter correctly:

only read the black figures. These register whole cubic metres (m3) which is what we use to bill you

we ignore the red figures which record part cubic metres. If you need to check for leaks or calculate the use of individual water using appliances, you'll need to read the red figures

there is a 'spinner' in the centre of the meter face which spins rapidly when water is being used. If the spinner is moving and you know you're not using any water or appliances, it may indicate you have a leak.

We aim to read your meter every six months. If we send you an estimated bill, you can give us an actual meter reading.